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I write about the magical moments in my life. The ones that are irrefutable evidence of miracles, divinity and the true nature of how things really are - beyond the illusions of victimization and limitation.

I write about them for me, and for you - to bring alive the beauty in a world where we can easily forget. And in doing so, my heart opens just a little bit more. 

This one has been brewing for some time. A story that has been writing itself for over a year, I knew I had to wait until the true moment it was ready. Now feels like that time. 

One of my practices in life is to follow the energy. And what that means is to notice when my body and system opens to something and to say yes to it. To notice the nudges or the pings and to follow them and then to keep listening and following that feeling, even if it doesn’t always make logical sense. 

This past summer, I met a man. Well actually, we had met 10 years prior through a mutual friend and he’d circled in and out of my online field over the years. We didn’t have a lot of contact but I remember feeling a good energy about him, especially since he gave me some props on some of the new things I was sharing online during my spiritual awakening and Covid. You know how when you start to wake up, there are many people who think you’re cray cray, but then you feel those who are with you? He was one of them.

Then, this May, he came back into my field, sliding into my DM’s with an invigorated response to my swan videos I was sharing in my IG stories. Not long after, he suggested we have a visit as he passed by neck of the woods (sort of) every so often to go visit friends. I was an immediate yes with no expectations but a sweet feeling of looking forward to seeing a familiar face. I had spent the last 5 months basically alone in the country with my mom as my only social interaction. It was time. 

Now, this may sound like the beginning of an incredible love story, and while there was a really sweet unfolding with us both, something else opened up. He shared about his interest and exploration of the Bitcoin philosophy in a way I had never heard it before. He didn’t focus on the currency, but on the philosophy and very quickly I felt the alignment with what I am devoted to in my life, which is Truth. The way he described the flow of energy using Bitcoin as a currency felt clean. And as he shared more about the current way we are using currency, things clicked in in a way they hadn’t before. I remember in 2017, I was working for a tech company and all the guys there tried to explain crypto to me. But the thing was, they focused mostly on the tech aspect of it which my brain couldn’t really grok. I was also not at all interested in the bigger picture of what was going on in our world then so there was nowhere for the truth of it to land. And so, I stopped paying attention.

Now, I was in a different place. And the things he was sharing just made sense. I started to feel energy open up and I began reflecting on my own work and how it fit into this framework. Something I’ve been struggling with ever since I launched my coaching/ embodiment business was that I couldn’t really bring myself to market it the way the current systems rewarded us. I didn’t play to the algorithms online. I couldn’t pump up my content with sales and promises and simple steps to feeling better in life. And something always just felt a bit heavy. Now, I am not one to blame social media, or the algorithm or the big hats upstairs who are puppeteering our world because I truly believe we are more powerful than that. I also deeply believe that social media has opened up space for so many incredible things - including me having my own business that could serve people at the level I have been serving over the last 6 years. But I hadn’t fully found my groove. And that was the truth. 

And so, as I listened to him talk about Bitcoin as a currency, I felt this alignment clunk into my body. I felt how expansive my system got thinking about the idea of being paid for my medicine and my work in a currency that energetically matched it. And while I didn’t have any money to invest, I felt the truth that it was time to dip my toes in. It was then he shared about NOSTR, a decentralized protocol that also moved energy in a cleaner and more true way. No algorithm or 3rd party extracting value from the content, but rather value exchanged for value. People could actually send you small amounts of Bitcoin immediately if they enjoyed a post you shared. As someone who has shared thousands of hours worth of valuable content online for free over the years, this very much piqued my interest. And so, after a few weeks, I downloaded Primal (a client on NOSTR which is like a mix of a Twitter and IG interface) and thought, I wonder if anyone on here will be receptive to the shit I have to share.

It was overwhelming when I first signed on. Because I had found myself in a place where I didn’t know the rules. The tech was different, the culture was different, and I was like a fish out of water who couldn’t call on her bag of tricks to get attention - it was perfect. So I was honest. I shared that I felt like I’d walked into some basement party with all the techy nerdy kids who were now cool and I had no idea how to be but I liked it. I asked dumb questions. And you know how people responded? With the warmest welcome I’ve ever received. And then they started to tell me to activate my wallet so they could send me money. What?? Now this is a pretty normal thing on NOSTR, and some people would say being a pretty woman on there definitely adds a certain kind of attention. Because remember, I walked into the techy nerdy party (of course this is not everyone, but rather the vibe.) But the most beautiful thing was I felt everyone’s hearts. I felt their genuine desire to help. One of those people was Carlo nostr:nprofile1qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqyg8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnhd9hx2qpq7nd4yu9anyd3004pumgrtazaacujjxwzj36thtqsxskjy0r5urgqyserwc - an oil painter from Italy who helped me get my wallet set up. There was immediate resonance and I felt his genuine care. It was like I landed in Galt’s Gulch. It was not a tech platform but a community - one with many values that aligned with mine. And I started to see, how I’d spent a lot of my energy sharing my words in a greater community that didn’t always align with my values. And it was that very fact that sometimes had it feel like I was speaking to deaf ears. 

Over the first few days on there, I shared about myself and whatever felt true to express. And people zapped me bits of money. Within 3 days I had about $20 USD worth of Bitcoin and I thought, wow, I just worked my way into this market through my words only. And so, I decided to write about it on Substack (another community that I had joined last fall that felt way more aligned than the other networks) and opened up a few 1:1 coaching sessions for people to pay for in Bitcoin. Immediately people purchased. 

At every turn, I was rewarded. It wasn’t huge, but I just kept listening and following the energy. And I could feel the energy coming back to me. I was inspired and I kept going.

Then, I felt the energy wane a bit and I quieted down. I also tended to other things in my life. I had about $450 worth of Bitcoin sitting in my wallet with no intention to spend it or convert it. I let it sit.

Fast forward a couple of months, and I had two dear friends come visit me from California and Arkansas - both of whom I met during my years living in San Diego. They arrived during our first real snow here in December and it was the greatest gift for me to watch them take in the place I’d spent the last year. Last winter was hard. It was a very quiet and dark time for me. There was lots of solitude. Lots of time spent in nature and with God. And it felt like having them here and receiving its beauty, brought them into those quiet moments of my past. 

One morning, I went outside in my jammies and my coat to let my mom’s dog out. This was something I’d done so many mornings over the last year. A quiet acquainting with the morning sun, air and birds. But this time, my friend Chelsea came outside with her camera. She was standing up the hill taking some photos and I had the thought, “I want this moment of mine captured.” A moment that was otherwise always in solitude. And so I asked. “Could you take a shot of me down here?”

It was not just one moment captured. But a culmination of all the quiet solo moments I’d had over the last year. And the photo was perfect.

I posted it in a couple places, including Primal, with very few words. And nostr:nprofile1qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqyg8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnhd9hx2qpq7nd4yu9anyd3004pumgrtazaacujjxwzj36thtqsxskjy0r5urgqyserwc commented on how beautiful it was, saying he was inspired to paint it. I was honored and said yes immediately. 

Over the next few weeks, he shared photos of the painting coming to life. I remember when I opened the app for the first time after a while around Christmas and saw the first layer. I gasped and my heart fluttered. It was gorgeous. 

And then, a week or so later, came the next one. It was beginning to take shape. I knew there was one more to come.

And then, it was finished. And although I had already been thinking about how I was pretty sure I would want to have that painting, it was then I knew. He listed it online for sale and all I could think about was “I don’t want anyone else to get it before me.” I tried to talk myself out of it for a moment, thinking the photo was enough and maybe this could brighten someone else’s day, but inside I felt it. This painting was mine. 

And here’s the thing, Carlo only sells his work in Bitcoin. He does not accept dollars. And so, I went to my wallet and checked, and I had just a bit more than his price. I had a very brief moment of thinking, “am I really going to use almost all this Bitcoin that I had started to build?” And the answer was simple. Yes. This is why I have it. Because it is a currency that aligns with my values. It is True. It is clean. And it is meant to be circulated. So the next morning, I bought the painting with a full and open heart. 

And what came next was even more beautiful. My mom had seen it and told me she and my dad would get it for me for my birthday. They do not have any Bitcoin. My dad has been considering it and I know I had planted the seed with him when I first got it this summer. And so, I told my mom, “if you and Dad still want to give this to me for my birthday, then you can pay me back in Bitcoin.”

And so, the day before my birthday, my dad went to a little Crypto currency exchange booth in downtown Toronto (even though I advised him to just do it online lol) and he converted his first CAD to Bitcoin and performed his first transaction, with the money arriving back in my wallet. 

A full circle. 

Last week, the painting arrived, two days after I turned 37. It took me a few days to open it because I knew I wanted to full receive it when I did. 

It is magical. And it is the first piece of original art I’ve ever bought. I took a video of me opening it for my parents, and I read the letter Carlo had written to me about what this painting meant to him and what he was capturing. Tears streamed down my face. 

“Your image carried something I recognized immediately: the quiet weight of transformation. The kind that happens alone, in cold light, surrounded by beauty that doesn’t care if you’re struggling or not. I tried to honor that in this painting. Not just the winter. Not just the trees and the snow. But the moment itself. The walk. The solitude that becomes strength.”

He did. 

Perfectly.

Writing this out brings a smile to my face. Feeling the magical unfolding that happened at every turn. Feeling the energy move. Feeling my heart expand. 

This is life. It is magical. Full of miracles. 

And I am so dang happy I get to live it. 

Thank you.

Please check out nostr:nprofile1qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqyg8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnhd9hx2qpq7nd4yu9anyd3004pumgrtazaacujjxwzj36thtqsxskjy0r5urgqyserwc work on here and https://isolabellart.it.com/